My favourite red lipsticks.

You know that bit in my sidebar where it says that I've 'spent a small fortune on red lipstick'? That's no joke. It doesn't matter who I'm with, if I'm out shopping and I pick up a new lipstick, whoever is with me will inevitably roll their eyes and ask 'another red lipstick?' I can't help myself! Anyway, since I've spent the last few years testing out every red I can get my hands on I thought it was about time to share a few of my favourites.

Rimmel Kate Matte Lipstick 111

I have quite a few of the Rimmel Kate lipsticks and I love the formula of all of them. They glide on easily and last really well so I definitely recommend any of the lipsticks in that range. 111 is my particular favourite though. It's the perfect red for me and possibly my favourite of all the lipsticks on this list. It's a real neutral red and one that I think would suit any skin tone.

MAC Matte Lipstick Lady Danger

I only have two MAC lipsticks (so far) and they're both on this list. Lady Danger is a lot more orange than any of the other lipsticks on this list but it's definitely still red enough to qualify. I got this one earlier this year and it was my go to lipstick for the whole of this summer. I particularly love wearing it with messy hair and barely-there makeup.

Maybelline Color Drama Lipstick Light It Up

I'm not sure why this one is showing up so pink toned in the swatch but I promise you, in real life Light It Up is a classic true red. I personally find the pencil a little bit difficult to get a neat edge with but this has such a lovely velvety finish once it's on and it's such a great colour that it's totally worth spending a little bit of extra time on the application.

MAC Matte Lipstick Russian Red

Russian Red was my first MAC lipstick and I still love it every bit as much as I did when I first got it. It's a much deeper, darker red than many of the others on this list, with a definite blue tone, which makes it especially great for this time of year. This and Lady Danger are both a little bit on the dry side but not so much that I find them uncomfortable to wear, and the lasting power is definitely worth it anyway.

No7 Moisture Drench Lipstick Siren

Siren was one of the first red lipsticks I ever bought and it's still a definite favourite. This is another classic red, although maybe a tiny bit more on the orange side than something like Light It Up. I've also just realised that it's the only non-matte lipstick on this list. I guess I have a type? I wouldn't describe it as a glossy lipstick either but it definitely has a lot more shine than something like Russian Red.

Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm Standout

First of all, I am so sorry that this swatch is so out of focus. I guess there's a reason I'm not a beauty blogger. Although it doesn't look like it from that shoddy swatch image, Standout is one of the darkest lipsticks on this list. It's almost a plummy sort of red and although it's a matte colour it is quite moisturising and one that I can wear all day without it feeling uncomfortable.

So those are my favourite reds... for now...

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Christmas spice biscuits.

Years and years ago mum bought me these Jamie Oliver Christmas biscuit cutters, which came in a bag with a recipe for Christmas spice biscuits. I've made these biscuits quite a few times since then and it goes wrong in exactly the same way every single time. Jamie Oliver and I are in a fight about it. He doesn't know it, but we are.

Anyway, they look cute when they're done, don't they? And they taste pretty great too, all orange and sugar and cinnamon and loveliness. I'm particularly fond of the fat little gingerbread men and the reindeers (which you can't actually see in these pictures... oops.)

Now, back to how they go wrong every single time. It's the flour. The recipe calls for 200g of plain flour but I always find that the dough is just too sticky to roll, even after having been in the fridge for two hours. Maybe I'm adding too much orange juice, I don't know, but I always end up adding more flour to the dough until it starts to look like a dough that can actually be rolled. This usually works out for the best anyway because I always end up with more than 12 biscuits. I'd just be careful of that if you try making these yourself.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 200g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of sea salt
• The zest and juice of half an orange
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar
• A pinch of ground cinnamon (or nutmeg or ginger)

Method

• Cream the butter and caster sugar together in a bowl, then beat in the egg.
• Add flour, sea salt, baking powder, sea salt, and orange zest and juice, and beat until everything is combined. If your dough looks particularly sticky, add more flour a little at a time until it looks more like a good rollable biscuit dough.
• Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it to cool in the fridge for two hours.
• When the dough is chilled, pre-heat your oven to 180c or 160c for a fan oven and grease and line 2 or 3 baking trays.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/2 cm thick. Cut shapes and transfer to lined baking trays.
• Mix demerara sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and then sprinkle over the biscuits.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are light brown.
• Once cooked, leave the biscuits to cool on the trays for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Winter TBR.

At the moment I'm still trying to get through these last few Gossip Girl books but the end is in sight and my eyes are already on all the lovely books I want to read next!

First up is what will be my second Agatha Christie novel A Murder is Announced. A Murder is Announced is one of Christie's Marple novels and although this will be my first novel involving that character I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy reading about her. The mystery in this story begins with an advertisement in a village newspaper, announcing that a murder is to take place, which sounds like a really interesting premise!

I'm slowly making my way through my list of Arthurian books and Roger Lancelyn Green's version is next on that list. I don't know a lot about this version but I've heard good things and, knowing that it's a version for children, I'm hoping that it will be as fun as the best parts of T.H. White's The Once and Future King without all of the boring political stuff Merlin gets into in the last of White's books.

My friend Jess bought What Would Mary Berry Do? for me earlier this year as a little surprise present. That was in May and I still haven't got around to reading it, which is just terrible, so this winter I'm hoping to finally get into it. I'm not entirely sure what the story is but I do know it's supposed to be 'perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan' so I'm definitely looking forward to it!

I love reading novels set in Cornwall and I've been wanting to read the first two Poldark books ever since watching the TV show earlier this year. I picked up the first two novels in the series, Ross Poldark and Demelza from The Book People a few months ago and although I would like to read both of them before the new series starts I know that's probably not the most realistic goal, so I'll settle for just getting this one read.

I've been waiting to read this collection of short stories ever since last Christmas and I am determined to read it before this year's Christmas. As soon as I finish the last Gossip Girl book, My True Love Gave To Me is absolutely top of my list to be read next. I'm really looking forward to snuggling up with some hot chocolate and enjoying what I'm sure will be some very sweet holiday stories.

I can't even tell you how long Northern Lights has been sitting in my bookshelf waiting to be read. I mean, I really can't. My mum bought it for me when I was a child and I don't know why I never read it but I'm determined to finally get to it this year and it definitely sounds magical enough for the winter months.

I read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief a couple of years ago and although I loved it I never got around to even buying the rest of the series, but my parents bought me the last four books for my birthday this year so I really want to re-read the first book and complete the series this winter!

Also on my TBR is Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) but I forgot to take a picture of that one... oops. Anyway, I'll definitely be reading that soon too!

What's on your winter TBR?

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GGRP: Don't You Forget About Me.

Well gang, we did it. We finally reached the book that almost made me give up on this entire endeavour. If this book had been earlier in the series I might have actually abandoned ship but we're too close to the end to give up now. I seriously considered it with this one though. I really did. And it was all thanks to Dan's mother.

Synopsis

It's the last few days of summer before everyone finally starts college. Blair and Nate arrive back from their month at sea to discover that Nate is going to have to stay in the city and repeat his senior year at school next year and Blair's mother and Cyrus have decided to move the family to LA once Blair and Aaron are at college. Breakfast at Fred's is being released early so Serena is suddenly even more famous than she was before and now she has to choose between going to Yale or staying in the city and acting more. And Nate has to finally choose once and for all which girl he wants to be with. Dan's estranged mother comes back to town purely to foist as many insufferable stereotypes onto her potentially gay son as she possibly can. Vanessa's sister is getting married and Vanessa starts to question if Dan only ever liked her because of her shaved head.

Familiar scenes

The ending is actually a little reminiscent of the ending to the TV program. I mean, the kids are just going to college so no one is married or anything, but after eleven books of this Blair-Nate-Serena triangle, everyone finally comes to their senses and Nate goes off to do his own thing, leaving the girls to actually be friends again. He's not mayor of New York yet but there are still two more books so who knows what'll happen.

What's different?

Dan's weird mother throwing him a coming out party and inviting everyone from his old school and buying him a pink spandex outfit and a penis pastry to celebrate???

Fanciest fancy party

The farewell party Eleanor throws for Blair at The Met. There are living statues and Serena and Nate put together a slideshow of Blair's life and Blair's dress sounds absolutely amazing.

Most conniving scheme

Blair asks her dad to get Nate into Yale even though he doesn't have his high school diploma and somehow Blair's dad actually manages it.

What is Chuck Bass up to?

Stealing Dan's boyfriend from right under his nose at Dan's coming out party.

How off the rails is Jenny Humphrey?

That's right, Jenny's back and her summer in Europe seems to have done her the world of good. She's supportive of Dan when he still thinks he might be gay and she is also the one to finally help Dan realise that kissing a boy once when you're drunk does not necessarily mean you're gay. Especially if you're still in love with your ex-girlfriend.

The next book is actually a prequel to the series, which probably means that right when that Blair-Nate-Serena triangle is finally over it's just going to start up again from the very beginning. Join me next time to see how that turns out.

I kind of want to end this with 'you know you love me'. I think these books are finally getting to me.

You know you love me.

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'Stasia's Special Hot Chocolate'.

I started making this hot chocolate when I was in university and, not to brag, but it was pretty popular. I can't remember who christened it 'Stasia's Special Hot Chocolate' but I am fairly certain it got that name when I started adding a splash of whiskey every time I made it... I've left the whiskey out this time but if you truly want to make a real Stasia Special then just give it a little splash of Jameson near the end. But you didn't hear that from me...

All you really need is milk and a good dark chocolate but I like to add a little bit of cinnamon when I'm feeling festive (obviously the cinnamon is optional if you're not feeling it.)

First you want to measure out your milk. I usually just use the mug(s) I'm going to be serving the hot chocolate in for this, almost filling each mug with milk but leaving a good amount of space at the top because the melted chocolate will mean you end up with more liquid than you started with. Pour your milk into a saucepan and heat it on a medium setting on your hob. You don't want the milk to boil, you just want to heat it up a little bit to help the chocolate melt quicker.

Next up is the chocolate. I usually go for Bournville and I use about 8 squares of chocolate for each person. Chop your chocolate up into smaller pieces and by the time you've finished that your milk should be warm enough for you to just pour the chocolate straight in.

Use a whisk to gently mix the chocolate and milk together until all of the chocolate has melted. Remember, you don't want the milk to boil, otherwise you'll just end up with that gross milk skin nobody likes. When the chocolate is all melted add a small dash of ground cinnamon (and a little splash of whiskey if that's your thing) and give it all a good last stir.

Pour it back into your mug and voila! That's it. You can thank me later.

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Christmas mix.

For day seven of Blogmas I thought it was finally time to share a Christmas playlist! I have Opinions about Christmas music (Stay Another Day is not a Christmas song!) and I wanted this playlist to only be the best of the best so I've narrowed it down to just over an hour and a half of absolute premium (in my humble opinion) Christmas tunes. It's a pretty eclectic mix of classic songs, new songs, and songs you might never have heard before so there should definitely be something for everyone!

What do you think of my choices? Did I miss out your favourite Christmas song? Let me know what your favourites are in the comments! I am always here for talking about Christmas music.

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Festive fashion.

Over recent years I've started getting more into dressing for the festive season and for today's Blogmas post I thought I'd share my growing collection of Christmassy fashion pieces with you!

I bought this Christmas pudding hat from Primark a few years ago but I have seen similar hats this year at ASDA and Marks and Spencer (in fact I've been eyeing up the ones in Marks and Spencer myself...) so there are plenty around if you want to pick one up yourself! I've got a lot of wear out of this over the past few years since I bought it but I have to admit it has been usurped slightly by the new hat I got a couple of weeks ago. 

This glorious hat might just be my favourite out of everything here and of course I had to gif it so that you could see it in all its true glory. You can still get this at ASDA for just £6, which I'm sure you'll agree is a total bargain. And yes, it does have a switch in the back so you can turn the lights off if you don't always want to be lit up like a Christmas tree. Although I don't know why you wouldn't, honestly.

This cute little earring set is from the Avon catalogue and I am totally looking forward to spending the next month with snowflakes and snowmen in my ears!

You might recognise this beautiful bag from the banner I've had at the bottom of all my Blogmas posts so far this month. I had my eye on this Skinnydip/ASOS exclusive bag for a while and totally jumped on it the second I got my Black Friday discount code from ASOS. Unfortunately it's sold out now but Skinnydip do have a couple of other adorable Christmas bags on their website.

And last but not least are my lovely cosy Christmas jumpers. These are both from ASDA and they're both super warm and lovely. The snowman jumper is from last year but again it has been slightly usurped by my love for the new Christmassy fair isle jumper, which I will probably be living in for the next month.

Do you think I have enough Christmas themed accessories? I'm not sure.

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